Under macOS you will find functions that give you accents, special character, Currency symbols, emojis and more can be selected and inserted into a text. As with mobile operating systems (iOS, Android, etc.), this partly works by pressing and holding a button. For example, if you want to write an é or è, just hold down the E key. How to activate, deactivate and use the press and hold function ("Press and Hold for Accents"), I have clearly shown you in this manual.
Chapter in this post:
- 1 Enter accents, symbols and emoji on the Mac
- 2 Insert symbols, emojis and more on macOS
- 3 Deactivating the accented option: repeat characters
- 4 (Re) enable Press and Hold on OS X
- 5 Switching on and off via TinkerTool
- 6 Update March 20.03.2018, XNUMX: You can't press for accents? Here is the workaround!
- 7 Similar posts
Enter accents, symbols and emoji on the Mac
Current versions of the Apple operating system macOS have the function of inserting special characters such as emojis, accented letters, smileys, dingbats and symbols into the text - simply by holding down the corresponding key on the keyboard. The easiest way to do this is to enter accented letters: Entering letters with an accent or another version of a keyboard character simply hold the key down until the alternative characters appear in a selection (see picture above). To select the appropriate character, simply type in the number shown below. To cancel the selection and still not insert any special characters, simply press the Esc key.
Insert symbols, emojis and more on macOS
Another function concerns extensive special characters in the text to be written. Because in addition to ñ, à and Ä, there are also symbols such as €, @ and ~ as well as symbols, smiley images, brackets, currency symbols and so on. These can also be sent via shortcuts can be inserted, but in the current macOS versions this is even more user-friendly:
- Click on the position in the message or text where you want to insert something
- Use the key combination Control + Command + Spacebarto call up the "Character overview"
- Write in the search field or click on the symbol at the top right to get an extended selection
- Have you found the symbol / picture that should be inserted, just click on it
- Frequently used characters are saved in the "Frequently used" list;)
Deactivating the accented option: repeat characters
The ability to bring up accented letters by pressing and holding a key on the Apple keyboard, described above, is not always practical. If for some reason you insert several identical letters, spaces, hyphens, etc., one after the other, but you don't want to press the key more than once, for example. If you want to activate the function, which leads to several characters when holding down a key, then proceed as follows:
- Calls the System Settings on
- Go to the menu there Keyboard
- Adjusts the slider Key repetition from off to on
Help and tips for the new Mac OS: macOS High Sierra: The Standard Work
(Re) activating Press and hold under OS X
Admittedly, the function is not the very latest and under macOS the accented character menus were not invented, but only expanded to include smiley and special character selection for texts. Accent pop-ups first appeared in word processing on the Mac under Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. To activate / reactivate the accent function in an OS X from this version, it is best to use this Port. There you enter this code and confirm:
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true
To turn off Accent Press and Hold, type this:
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
Switching on and off via TinkerTool
If you don't like working with the terminal, you can use the free "TinkerTool" look at. This little helper can be used to set many Mac OS options for which there are no system extensions. In TinkerTool, the option for the accents is “Hold down to select diacritics”. You can find them after starting the program under the “General” button (see screenshot).
Update 20.03.2018/XNUMX/XNUMX: You can't press for accents? Here is the workaround!
A reader recently wrote to me that she couldn't get any accents on her Mac when pressing and holding it down. These instructions here did not help either. But since she often has to write a specific name that requires an accent, we have come up with a workaround that also helps in this case:
In the “Keyboard” system preferences, there is a “Text” tab. There you can enter abbreviations that the system should then convert into something else when writing. In our case we want the name “François”, but we don’t always want to try and figure out how to get the appropriate accent under the C.
The solution is that we just come up with a "unique" spelling of this name so that "Francois" isn't always substituted. I simply doubled the “c” and entered “Franccois” as the abbreviation. This should then be replaced by the correct spelling “François”.
I hope this article offers a solution for all problem cases. If you still get stuck, please write to me or leave a comment. Maybe we can do it together. : D
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After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.